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Kew Green Hotels

In a New World of 'Frictionless' Consumption, How Hotel's Technology may Shape the Future of True Hospitality?

With the technology at our finger tips changing so quickly, how can hotels stay on trend whilst still maintaining some soul?

Hoteliers now have access to all sorts of technology to enhance the guests experience, improve revenue generation or manage cost more efficiently. How should we react to all these inventions that are transforming the hospitality we used to know? Does this mean we should dig our heels in and do all we can to stop technological advances to keep true hospitality alive? Of course not, like it or not, the tools we use and the process we follow today will be obsolete in just a few years if not months. What counts, is how we react (as proactively as possible) to these changes.

To avoid obsolescence, hoteliers must stay trendy and strive to provide our guests, employees and owners with the correct technology infrastructure. They need to deploy their skills and knowledge to all aspects of the guest’s journey: spotting new opportunities, identifying and being ahead of trends for new income or cost savings and developing a strong entrepreneurial attitude that runs throughout the business. How do we stay trendy then? Most importantly, stay aware of what is happening around you both inside our industry and further afield and understand the impact for now and the future. This is where I believe things are getting very exciting. So let’s look at the key areas, I believe, technology is changing how we work and how we host our guests.

Enhancing Guest Experience. Personalisation is key here, and with most homes now equipped with smart TVs or Alexa (I never expected to own home chatbot!), we need to reinvent the in-room technology we provide to our guests. With most guests having subscriptions to streaming services, we need to enable them to connect to them in their room.

As we move to a more ‘frictionless’ service, we will have to re-invent how we continue to provide true hospitality

Being able to watch your own content on the hotel TV or listening to your saved playlist via TV is becoming a commodity. As we move to a more ‘frictionless’ service, we will have to re-invent how we continue to provide true hospitality. How to you keep the soul of your business with less contact? Simple things like utilising texting to provide concierge or guest services are now enabling us to bridge this gap. A further enhancement to this technology is likely to be chatbot being used for the initial interaction stages utilising the guest’s own device, the one they know and are comfortable with. When they get to the lobby though, this is where the more traditional hospitality we know today will resume, the guests have now decided to interact and therefore will expect outstanding service delivery on their terms (a road warrior on a Tuesday or a family on a long weekend will have very different expectations).

Driving Revenue Generation. From the dreaming to the reservation stage, programmatic advertising has changed how guests are targeted and are increasingly presented with the product tailored to their needs. Guest loyalty analytics is still developing at a fast pace despite the concerns behind personal data protection and the increased awareness from the general public of this topic. When it comes to check-in stage, mobile technology now enables mobile check-in for our guests and that customisation is so important to them; from choosing the floor they want to be in, to upgrading to a superior room type or requesting a late check out. A chatbot taking your room service order is in sight too. Behind the scene, changes are happening quickly too, with Revenue Management systems making some large leaps forward and delivering more accurate decisions from better demand forecasting to improved price optimisation resulting in increased RevPAR. Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems are pretty much the norm nowadays, but could chatbot now support simple reservations or assist with initial stage of the reservation journey or your booking engine directly hosted within Instagram platform?

Creating Cost Efficiency. Automated payroll and scheduling system are already enabling more efficient staff planning and better use of our resources when it matters, but there are many other cost efficiencies that are or will shortly be possible because of the increased availability of technology. With more and more guests self-servicing either on their own device or interactive desks, our front of house function is changing rapidly with hosts replacing receptionists and taking multi-disciplinary roles. Payroll is one area where technology is likely to create strong cost efficiencies but other cost lines could also benefit from technology. For example, with mounting distribution costs for most hoteliers, how can blockchain change our route to market in a more cost effective way remains unknown.

As long as we stay in touch with our changing world and customer, technology in the hotel sector has a lot up its sleeves and won’t stop surprising or even amazing us. Keep your entrepreneurial eye out; the next game changer is just around the corner. And remember to try new things, they may not all work, but you might also uncover a technological competitive advantage for your business. Stay TRENDY!

The articles from these contributors are based on their personal expertise and viewpoints, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of their employers or affiliated organizations.

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